NCP open to tie-up with Cong for mayoral elections: Gujarathi

Mumbai, Feb 5 (UNI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will explore possibilities of a post-poll tie-up with the Congress for the mayoral elections to be held in municipal corporations which had gone to the polls last week.

Maharashtra unit NCP president Arun Gujarathi, speaking to reporters after a review meeting to analyse the post-poll scenario that was attended by party supremo Sharad Pawar, said Mr Pawar has issued instructions in this regard.

Such possibilities are to be explored in all municipal corporations, except Mumbai and Nagpur where the NCP had fared badly.

Replying to a question on the tie-up in Pune, Mr Gujarathi said the review meeting discussed the political situation in all the corporations and not just Pune.

Asked when the talks with Congress would be initiated, Mr Gujarathi said the mayoral elections were still a month away.

Earlier the NCP had said it will not have any tie-up with the Congress in Pune which is controlled by Lok Sabha member Suresh Kalmadi.

Mr Gujarathi said his party had fared satisfactorily in the recent elections to ten municipal corporations except Mumbai and Nagpur. ''Our seat tally has increased by 34 across the state, while the other prominent parties have seen a decline in their tally,'' he said. He admitted that the NCP had lost nearly 27 seats in Ulhasnagar due to infighting. Although the party has not benefitted in terms of number of seats in Mumbai, the party has been strengthened in the metropolis, he remarked.

Asked to comment on the failure of talks with the Congress on the pre-poll seat adjustments, Mr Gujarathi remarked, ''There is no point in talking about it now. But, I agree, the result could have been different.'' He, however, maintained that the failure of talks was not owing to ''ego hassles'' among the leaders. ''The talks failed due to the bid by both the parties to seek proper justice for their respective party workers,'' he said.

He agreed that there had been a huge division of secular votes that had resulted in a loss both to the Congress and the NCP.

Mr Gujarathi hoped that the Congress and NCP would now bury their hatchet and work together to ensure that the benefits of the state government's policies reach the common man.

He said the Congress-NCP alliance for the forthcoming zilla parishad polls, where the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is on a strong wicket would be formalised.

UNI